Thursday, August 18, 2011

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"As we have discussed in our coverage of the drug war in Mexico, Mexican cartels, including the VCF, clearly possess the capability to construct and employ large vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) — truck bombs — and yet they have chosen not to. These groups are not averse to bloodshed, or even outright barbarity, when they believe it is useful. Their decision to abstain from certain activities, such as employing truck bombs or targeting a U.S. Consulate, indicates that there must be compelling strategic reasons for doing so. After all, groups in Lebanon, Pakistan and Iraq have demonstrated that truck bombs are a very effective means of killing perceived enemies and of sending strong messages. Perhaps the most compelling reason for the Mexican cartels to abstain from such activities is that they do not consider them to be in their best interest. One important part of their calculation is that such activities would remove the main buffer that is currently insulating them from the full force of the U.S. government: the Mexican government." (STRATFOR)

"Vice President Biden opened his trip to China on Thursday with a speech emphasizing the country's close relationship with the U.S., but his words were overshadowed when Chinese officials tried to usher U.S. press out of the room before Biden was done speaking. In a White House pool report, Los Angeles Times reporter Michael Memoli wrote that he and other reporters were physically thrown out of a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People and told by officials it was because Biden had gone over the time he had been allotted to speak and no more coverage would be allowed. 'Officials said Biden was going on too long, though he at that point had not spoken for more than 5-6 minutes, including the consecutive translation,' the pool report said.'Despite occasionally successful efforts at holding our ground, poolers were continually pushed further toward the exit. Once it was clear that Biden was concluding we departed. A number of fellow reporters and staff said they hadn't seen quite that level of aggressive force attempting to remove us from such an event,' Memoli wrote. Reporters were also removed from a meeting with National People’s Congress Chairman Wu Bangguo, and press access to a dinner was canceled. The pool report says Biden continued his speech during the shoving match. It is unclear whether he noticed the disturbance." (TheHill)

"Just because Karl Rove is behind a plot doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t work ... For years, Rove has made it a hobby of sorts to deflate conservatives more popular with the base than he is. Like any good bully, he has tended to focus on easy targets, such as Sarah Palin and Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell, piling on them as if he were hoping for a time slot next to Al Sharpton on MSNBC. So far he has (mostly) gotten away with this. Now he and his henchmen are undertaking their most serious gamble. Rick Perry managed to shine in Texas without Rove's permission, and now threatens to become the current Republican frontrunner without Rove’s blessing. This, Rove has decreed, must be stopped, even if his party is destroyed in the process. The origins of the Rove grudge against Perry really matter only to a handful of people. Suffice it to say it stems from some decade-old feud over power and money. And Rove has lassoed the entire Bush family in on it. The former presidents Bush have made it a great point not to comment on the actions of their successors—Clinton and Obama, respectively. They think there is a nobility to staying out of the fray and not making things more difficult for the next commander in chief. Yet the Bushes have shown no compunction about doing just that to a fellow Republican and fellow Texan (though Perry is the only one of them actually born in the state)." (TheDailyBeast)